Hopes / Expectations / Worries for Series 6

As we stand on the eve of the beginning of a new season of WHO, I've seen a number of reviews across the 'net for The Impossible Astronaut / Day of the Moon and they generally seem to be glowing.

In addition, it sounds like the "game changing" nature of this upcoming series touted by Moffat in interviews may not be just PR hyperbole.

Are we about to have our entire perception of The Doctor Altered forever? WILL we finally find out who River Song REALLY is? Will the dry cleaner ever find my sport coat? (sorry, separate personal issue)

So what are your thoughts and feelings about what's to come? Excited? Nervous? Did season 5 make you that much more hungry for season 6 or did you find 5 a disappointment that you hope 6 will rectify?

Personally, the more I read, the more jacked up I'm getting, and I'm going to try to stay "off the grid" so to speak, from here on out and not read ANY further reviews of ANY episodes from this point on to remain as unspoiled as possible.

I made the mistake of reading too much last season and while I still enjoyed the heck out of the episodes, I probably would have enjoyed them a heck of a lot more not knowing what I knew.

I'm further frustrated by the fact that while BBC America is now airing them almost simultaneously as their UK counterpart, I STILL have to resort to bit torrenting them because my stupid cable service doesn't GET BBC America! (On a positive note, they are adding it this summer, but of course the first half of Season 6 will be aired by then)

River is Amy's daughter. Remember how River explained her first encounter with the Doctor: as a little girl.

River can regenerate.

We will see several of River's regenerations.River is going to be wanted by the big bad of the season because -- as we saw early on -- even a dead Time Lord body is wanted. What about a living one?

I think the cliffhanger for episode 7 will be some female (evil one? probably) regenerating and turning into the River Song we know... this will explain how River knows it is the day the Doctor finds out, as if she had lived it before (she did).

I think River Song's story will be somewhat like Darth Vader. Good turned evil (anger/hate/resentment with the Doctor for neglecting her) who will be turned good (by the Doctor's self-sacrifice).

The Doctor, when he dies, knows who is doing it (as he said, and he is fine with it).

The Silent, I believe, will not be the main foe; indeed, they might be amoral and self-serving, but they seem to be hiding out, scared. They might kill and enjoy it, they are alien, but somehow they are protecting the universe. Indeed, the silent spots might really still exist, hidden by the Silence. When they fall, then the universe is in trouble.

I've also speculated that River Song is going to be the "First" of the race which will become the Time Lords -- so the first and the last are together, making a circle in time, with the Doctor and River together making the initial race of Time Lords... a real grandfather paradox...but in an extended time and sequence..

saw the first episode, and i don't think i've been this disapointed since the beast below. as long as there are plenty of non-moffat eps, i'll be fine this season. i'm sure somehow the doctor or the universe will die (wait he already did that), and he'll just hit a big reset button. wait, what was it that everyone complained about rtd for?

No, my complaints with RTD was his love obsession with Dalek finales (And make no mistake, I loathed the Dalek in The Big Bang. But it served a purpose...) and his Deus Ex Machina endings (The Pandorica having a restoration field that revived a Dalek and showcased it had a bit of the old universe within it was far fetched, but it didn't come out of nowhere like Bad Wolf and DoctorDonna).

No, my complaints with RTD was his love obsession with Dalek finales (And make no mistake, I loathed the Dalek in The Big Bang. But it served a purpose...) and his Deus Ex Machina endings (The Pandorica having a restoration field that revived a Dalek and showcased it had a bit of the old universe within it was far fetched, but it didn't come out of nowhere like Bad Wolf and DoctorDonna).

what if it's amy that's in the spacesuit. my reasons for thinking this: 1. the doctor already knows amy's pregnant because he remembers her telling him right before she shot the girl. 2. he hints at this when he states that she has put on a few pounds months since the last time they saw each other after she was joking about his age.3. the doctor misleads everyone when he states he's been on the run his whole life he's actually been on the run for the past 200 years. though he's been on the run at times before in his life i think he's only referring to the past 200 years.4. and he's on the run because the silents want to recover his body after his death.5. that's why the doctor asked canton to bring the fuel to burn his body.6. amy's being forced to comply with the silents in order to save her child, if there not related then it's just to save the child that's in spacesuit.7. the doctor knows it's amy after the astronaut lifts the visor up and he says it's you, but i'm sure he thought it might end up being her beforehand, and that's why he asked that they not interfer as to avoid a paradox if someone killed a future version of themselves.8. he sacrificed himself in order to help fix amy's tragic shooting.9. the silents have time travel tech so that's why they seem to be stalking them.

fears- too much technobabble may lose the average audience interests- me I love it- but you almost have to kind of write each story as if someone has never seen the show before...if there is way too much backstory- this would deter a newbie.

after the day of the moon, i have no hopes for the rest of this series. honestly, all the hate and disgust people had for rtd's version of who, i have ten fold for moffat. if this is what "bringing classic who back" is, i don't want it.

very intriqued. cant wait to see how it plays out. and i know all the kids out there are loving the new aliens, they were very creepy, all my nephews and neices were very excited. i really like all the connected crazy story line tie ins.

after the day of the moon, i have no hopes for the rest of this series. honestly, all the hate and disgust people had for rtd's version of who, i have ten fold for moffat. if this is what "bringing classic who back" is, i don't want it.

I am pretty much at this point myself. I am going to give the new season through episode 4, the one written by Neil Gaiman. I know that if these past two episodes of Who were the first ones I ever watched, I would NOT be a fan. I do not enjoy television that, after two episodes, you have no idea what is happening. Doctor Who is should not be "Lost". Now I do enjoy long term storylines like Babylon 5 where you don't know how it is going to end but you are not comletly in the dark.

As for RTD, his WHO was FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The last two episodes were not fun for me.

Well, to be fair, if you watch Frontier in Space from the perspective of a person who has to wait a week for a half an hour increment, then you'd be just as much in the dark after two episodes as you would with The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon.

rust, you make a good point about the old episodes, however, and i've said this before, barring a few seasons (of the first 25 years), there were never really any story arcs.

yes, i blame rtd for overdoing this. not every series needs an "arc" or a mystery. just let episodes be episodes. let companions come and go. i like the lost comparison. i don't want to have to go back and watch the first two episodes of the series, after i watch the last two, to say "oh, now i get it". doctor who just doesn't work that way for me.

I've missed you, bret! I don't think I'm ever quite as down on episodes as you are, but I don't feel like such a downer when I'm not the only critical person awash in a sea of fan love.

Yeah, I'm kinda down on the series so far too and I don't expect it to improve. I think Moffat is VERY clever when he tries to tell a complete story in a single episode, and that he does time looping and such really well. But when he tries to do it across a bunch of episodes, where some forgettable throwaway event that happened in Episode 5 is suddenly given some meaningful interpretation in Episode 12, it just doesn't work. He doesn't even do it especially well in 2-part episodes. And these two episodes have given me every indication that that's exactly how things are going to play out here.

Now, I love a good arc, but if you're going to do that you have to kinda focus on the arc -- you can't have a bunch of standalone episodes with "Bad Wolf" written on a wall or characters voicing throwaway lines about "Silence" and then act like it means something super important later. It's also possible to have an "arc" that consists of standalone episodes connected by item fetch quests (see "The Key to Time" and most video games) or simple segues (taking Amy and Rory to Venice to rekindle their romance, for example). Alas, in general, that kind of thing seems too "simple" for Moffat -- he'd rather go for something really ambitious regardless of whether it works or not.

I will fully admit, I'm wondering if Moffat isn't being a little too clever in his production here - this kind of thing can either succeed or fail in spectacular fashion.

I'm personally of the opinion that as of Day of the Moon there are almost too many plot threads Moffat has to juggle for the rest of the season, but I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and see where this all goes.

Although if at the end of all this, it turns out the Daleks are responsible for everything yet again there will be blood.